Tangerang Police are defending their actions after a photograph emerged of officers reprimanding what appear to be underaged girls for wearing shorts.

Spokesman Comr. Haru Manurun initially told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday that the picture from state news agency Antara simply showed female officers searching – and photographing – two teenage girls for weapons prior to a football match in the city on the outskirts of Jakarta.

"Basically we wanted to inspect everyone before they entered the stadium, to make sure that they didn't bring any sharp or hard objects to disturb the match," he said, "We checked everybody, including little children."

Questioned further about the photo, which Antara said show the officers "scolding" the girls for "for wearing shorts," Haru admitted Tangerang Police had told inappropriately dressed girls and women to not wear shorts to "avoid pornography."

"We asked the policewomen to suggest and encourage [the girls] not to wear shorts because we wanted to avoid unwanted things," Haru said. "When we saw women in shorts, we scolded them because, perhaps, it is unfavorable in the eyes of the public and does not conform to public [standards of decency]."

He said it was strongly suggested that the females did not wear similar clothing to the next football match.

Asked about the apparent age of the girls, Haru said it was of no consequence. "Ages doesn't matter, but appropriate clothes do matter."